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Liquid Jade Matcha from The Tao of Tea

Steepster Score 7 Ratings Rate This Tea

76/100

Liquid Jade Matcha

Green Tea by The Tao of Tea

Introduction: Also known as ‘Powdered green tea’ and traditionally used in ‘Chanoyu’ – the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Matcha has a special spiritual significance in Japan. It is said that a person operating within the rules of Chanoyu finds the five senses working at their fullest. Just as Matcha is essential to Japan’s traditional art of the tea ceremony, a cup of Matcha brings about mental concentration, emotional stability, and composure of the mind. Unlike black tea and green tea whose ingredients are infused in water and discarded, Matcha has ingredients that can be utilized fully to activate the organic functions of human body. It is a beverage good for both the mind and the body. Matcha contains essential vitamins and minerals and has shown long term health benefits due to its many disease fighting nutrients.
It has 9 times the beta carotene of spinach, 4 times that of carrots, and approximately 10 times the polyphenols and antioxidants of regular teas.

In making this tea, the tea plants are covered with bamboo mats in the last few weeks of their growing season to promote full flavor. After the leaves are plucked, they are immediately steamed to spread the chlorophyll throughout the leaves and stop any oxidation. The leaves are then dried and rapidly cooled. The resulting dried product is called rough tea, or Aracha. Aracha is then cut into small pieces and the twigs, veins and stems are removed. The leaves are dried again and the resulting product is known as Tencha. Tencha is then ground by stone mills in a climate-controlled, clean room to produce Matcha. A single mill can only process 40 grams of leaves per hour.

Matcha has a sweet, buttery and rich oceanic taste. It is ideally prepared with a bamboo whisk in a bowl. However, it can also be prepared in a variety of drinks, shakes and smoothies.

11 Tasting Notes

LiberTEAS
85
LiberTEAS 2 tasting notes

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this Matcha.

I’ve had better, and I’ve had worse, but for the price it’s a really good Matcha. Not a lot of froth but it manages to stay mixed and doesn’t settle to the bottom of the chawan, which is nice. It also doesn’t have that chalky texture or taste even in the aftertaste. This is also a bit sweeter than some Matcha I’ve tasted, with less of the bittersweet element that I sometimes detect. Overall, a very good Matcha, I enjoyed it. (That’s the thing with Matcha, it disappears way too fast!)

2012-01-20 19:45:17 -0500
3 comments

backlog: I finished off what I had left of this Matcha this afternoon. A delicious Matcha, this time around I found it to be a bit more vegetative than the first time I had it, but it was still pleasantly smooth – not gritty – and sweet.

2012-01-27 20:44:17 -0500
0 comments
Show 1 more
Mercuryhime
83
Mercuryhime

Had a sleepless night. My doggie was sick and throwing up. :( I thought I’d have a bit of matcha for the energy. I’ve never successfully made a matcha for myself before. Today was different.
I dont actually have the traditional tools for matcha so I just add the powder and water to a cup and stir with a spoon. Am I a barbarian? maybe a fork would be more whisk-like… Anyway, the matcha is lovely. It’s smooth, vegetal and not bitter all. I love the seaweedy flavor. It’s like a relaxing day at the beach without all the sand.
I’m really just a matcha novice and other reviewers are saying there are way better ones out there, but for me, this was really pleasant.

Thanks for the sample Batrachoid! I had forgotten how much I like Japanese teas. I have all this Chinese tea, which is great, but tea from Japan is truly unique. They are the masters of savory flavors.

2011-10-27 11:43:43 -0400
0 comments
Batrachoid
69
Batrachoid 5 tasting notes

It started snow a little while after the gas guy left. I had some things to do before I could sleep so I waited out the disappating cold with some matcha.
I understand it’s named Liquid Jade. It feels like warm molten jade going down, thick, frothy, and satisfying. It doesn’t taste bad but it has that ashy aftertaste of lower quality matcha that reminds one it’s use is as an economical usucha. Which is fine. I got my taste fix from Tao’s tuocha and the energy I needed.

2011-01-06 19:27:39 -0500
4 comments

I accidentally poured the water into my cups an extra time and it brought out a sweeter taste that I’ve only gotten from higher grade matchas before. So around 160 F? Hmm…It’ll have to wait until tomorrow. This was my second chawan. Three in one day would remove the economy of Liquid Jade to match the matcha to its name …

2011-02-06 05:17:13 -0500
0 comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dsngKEtA-k
I need to focus and finish this drawing before we move next week. I’m getting too nit-picky for the level of detail I should allow myself at this stage. It’s very counterproductive.

2011-01-11 13:25:37 -0500
3 comments

That talk about mouthfeel and zing made me thirsty and cleaning stole my energy. The remedy? A pre-lunch appetizer of two whole raw caco beans, a tablespoon of raw nibs, and a bowl of Liquid Jade to wash them down.
I took a sip with a clean, less sleep deprivation deadened palate first. I must bump the rating now that I can taste fresh half-steamed spinach over the ashy aftertaste. The cacao was eactly the chewy fix I needed and tasted phenominal with a slurp of matcha mingled in. The matcha didn’t exactly wash the cacao down so much as create a grassy, earthy coating on my gums but anything that extends a bowl of matcha for ten minutes is a plus. Between savoring matcha and chewing cacao, I think I found my new favorite long, meditative snack break. I almost skipped lunch it felt so filling.

2011-01-07 14:00:18 -0500
150 °F / 65 °C
0 comments

I let the water get too cold this afternoon but it dissolved well enough to help me focus.

2011-01-10 18:52:15 -0500
0 comments
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Cloud Mountain Tea 雲 山 茶
64
Cloud Mountain Tea 雲 山 茶

This has the honor of not being the first Matcha I have ever tasted. While it is better than some I have had it is not high quality. I enjoy most of the teas I get from Tao of Tea but this is only a little better than average.

2010-07-06 23:50:08 -0400
0 comments
TeaEqualsBliss
82
TeaEqualsBliss

I agree with Geoffrey’s note about it tasting like sweet seaweed or Nori type tasting…This is a nice matcha standby to have. It’s ok! I love the smoothness of it! That’s my favorite part of this one…

2011-04-29 13:59:46 -0400
2 comments
Geoffrey Norman
81
Geoffrey Norman

This has the honor of being the first matcha I’ve tried. I have since tried better ones, but this one is still quite top-notch. It isn’t the highest quality – that honor belonging to koicha-grade ceremonial – but the zesty, slightly roasty, sweet-seaweed-like taste can’t be beat.

2010-02-24 19:09:25 -0500
155 °F / 68 °C
2 min 30 sec
0 comments

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